UTILITIES:
• The TVA asks 3,500 employees to quit or retire as part of a cost-cutting move. (Chattanooga Times Free-Press)
• The New Orleans City Council calls on Entergy to better justify the need for a new natural gas-fired power plant compared to investments in efficiency and renewables. (The New Orleans Times-Picayune)

NUCLEAR:
• Santee Cooper in South Carolina says it will use proceeds from a $831 million bond sale to help pay for its share of escalating nuclear construction costs. (The Post and Courier)
• Environmental advocates support both sides of a dispute between South Carolina and the federal government over converting plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel. (The Post and Courier)

ALTERNATIVE FUELS: The 150 alternative fueling stations in the Jacksonville, Florida area draw praise from the U.S. Deptartment of Energy. (The Florida Times-Union)

Jim Pierobon is a former Chief Energy Writer at the Houston Chronicle and is the principal writer of The Energy Fix blog. He is a policy, marketing and social media strategist who has reported on, testified and consulted about solar energy, energy efficiency, smarter grids, energy cyber-security, fossil fuel price spikes and the rise and fall -- and the rise again -- of nuclear energy. He resides in Northern Virginia.